Be Mean
by New Secret Identity
Summary: Sometimes you get what you want. Sometimes when that happens, you have to accept that what you want isn't what you need. Hinata defines, and redefines herself. AU, Gaahina.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Oh, I so don't own anything. Enjoy!

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~ CHAPTER 1 ~

Definition

Naruto, her dream, her first crush, and at least as she once thought—her first love. Hinata had admired him since they were both children. She had always known that there was "something" wrong with him. It was the way people acted around him, the way he got sidelong looks in the street, the way the other children wouldn't play with him.

It was whispered about him—bakemono, monster. But Hinata could see no monster. Only a child that was friendly, that always had a smile on his face and mischief in his mind, despite the way people treated him.

Hinata admired that most about him, his pluckiness, that stubborn cheerfulness and enthusiasm that he faced the world with. How she had hoped and wished so many times that she could have even one ounce of that confidence. But Hinata had none.

Growing up, Hinata had her own problems. People ignored her too. She received sidelong glances from her clansmen. She knew the feeling of disgust in their faces over the weak spawn of the clan's master.

But unlike Naruto, she folded under their gaze. Instead of pushing back, acting out like he did, she deflated. Which was why she latched on to Naruto. She could sense the similarities between them, born admittedly of different phenomenon but no less similar. She watched him and she began to change, to pattern herself after his example, and she did benefit very much from his tutelage from afar.

It was he who asked her on their first date. She sweaty palmed and fifteen standing in front of him, her back against the wall at Ino's house. She could still remember his sheepish grin, as if he were playing some joke on her as he asked her.

"Ah, Hinata-chan. Let's get some ramen, ne?"

It wasn't until later when she realized that this was his way of asking her on a date. It wasn't until later that she realized that Sakura had put him up to it, realizing Hinata's feelings whereas Naruto had still been so terribly clueless. That part had hurt, that it wasn't his idea.

For awhile Hinata had blossomed in the light of his attentions. It felt so good to be recognized by her crush, by the person that she admired the most. It boosted her confidence, and she would walk around with a dreamy smile and eyes that glowed. And when she was with him, being buoyed up by his warmth, by his words of praise for her, by his absolute confidence in her abilities, it was the best feeling in the world.

Her father cunningly chose to allow her this fling, knowing that to resist Hinata's wishes to be with the fox-boy would only encourage Hinata, who had developed a troubling rebellious streak after she was stripped of her title as heir.

So he let it pass, confident that it would fade in time. One day Hinata came to her father and told him, her voice shaky but her stance firm, that she loved Naruto. It was then that Hiashi told her of his theory, that her infatuation with this boy would fade. That they were "ill-suited." It only made Hinata more determined to make it work.

Perhaps that was why she had been so eager to accept Naruto's advances, to prove her father wrong, to prove to herself that this was what she wanted, that this was forever. Their love play began with awkward kisses, Naruto's hands squeezing her breasts roughly and artlessly, mumbled words about how beautiful she was. Words that always seemed to ring hollow with her while his hands caressed her greedily.

He asked her if he could have her and she let him, feeling his impossibly hot body break her, passing that line that would redefine her irreparably, and it was then, after he lay panting on top of her, that the insidious seed of doubt first blossomed in her mind. This is not what you want, it whispered, curling around her insides like choking ivy.

And she could not help but listen to it, suppressing the desperate urge to push Naruto from her body, and to run away and bathe the feeling of his sweat from her skin. She began to cry then, and Naruto had held her sweetly whispering apologies, not really understanding why she was crying, assuming that he had hurt her physically when really, she had only hurt herself inside because she had been dishonest with herself about what she wanted, about what she needed.

But even though Hinata was unhappy, she did not give up. She would not give up on her childhood friend and first love until she understood fully the dark thing nibbling at her heart like a hungry rodent. And so they continued as if nothing had changed, Hinata putting up the guise of happy girlfriend and ecstatic lover as she struggled to define, each time they touched, what it was about him that left her feeling—empty.

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Ironically perhaps, Gaara could blame his infatuation squarely on Naruto. It was true that it would probably never have come about if it were not for him. After all, it was because of Naruto that Gaara first ever noticed her, ever spent time with her. And as he fleshed out his understanding of the shy, stuttering girl with the ghostly pale eyes, he began to see more and more things that he found himself strangely attracted to.

It didn't help--the way Naruto spoke about her, the personal things that he would brag to Gaara about. The feeling of her small body underneath his, the things that you would never guess the modest once heiress would do with her beautiful perfect pair of lips…Gaara knew that if Hinata ever understood what Naruto had told Gaara about their sex life that she would never be able to look at him, never be able to be in the same room with him without dying of mortification.

Which was perhaps why it was so delicious to be around her, knowing that she would never even guess what he knew about her, thanks to Naruto's inability to keep his mouth shut.

Gaara remembered fondly and vividly the one time he joined them for tea at the Hyuuga compound. Naruto had canceled at the last minute, having been summoned by the Hokage on a special assignment. Disappointed, Gaara was certain that Hinata would surely call off their get together but to his pleasure she did not. She sent a servant to collect him and his entourage at 2 pm as originally agreed.

Once there, Gaara was ushered into a sitting room whose open screens abutted a beautiful water garden—the type you would never see in Suna where water was a commodity too precious to leave out for the sun.

Once he was seated, Hinata entered shortly after, wearing a bright white kimono with long sleeves and a design of a silvery forest covered in snow. She smiled at him and his pulse jumped. Swallowing uncomfortably against the feeling in his throat he greeted her and she thanked him for coming, admitting that she was afraid that he was going to cancel with her, knowing that Naruto had been called away.

They then sat in comfortable silence as he watched Hinata go through the rituals of making the tea, her graceful hands completing with poised ease the delicate scripted movements of the deeply symbolic ritual. As she moved Gaara watched her, admiring the paleness of her skin and thinking of what Naruto had said, about the way it had felt when they had made love for the first time—Hinata's warmth, her tightness, the small sounds that had escaped from her throat.

Naruto had left nothing out, and Gaara, curious and aroused had not stopped him. Left alone with her now he could not stop his mind from wandering, imagining what it would be like if he were to breach that invisible barrier between them, violate Naruto's trust in him and and persuade her to allow him to explore her body in front of the garden on the warm sun dappled mats of bamboo. As he watched the way her kimono revealed the back of her slender white neck, he had to admit that the idea was very appealing.

But it was stupid to entertain such thoughts. Gaara knew how Hinata felt about Naruto, and Gaara knew that his fantasies were damned to be left unrequited. He couldn't help but be angry with Naruto for awakening them in him. He tried his best to put her out of his mind. But in the wicked way that lust has, Gaara could not prevent it from infiltrating his mind at night.

When the dreams of her first started marching through his mind, Hinata and Naruto were featured together, Gaara watching them as Naruto's body bucked against her small hips in frantic rhythm. But then over time Gaara's perspective shifted, and it was him on her, in her, moving against Hinata's slick, tight body.

It was enough to make Gaara avoid her like a leper whenever he was in Konohagure. It was enough to make him stop Naruto every time his friend started to brag about his latest exploit with Hinata, causing his friend, after the third censure to ask Gaara if he were, "Gay or something?"

"It's okay…you know. If you are…" Naruto said to his friend, his eyes scrunched up in an awkward smile.

Gaara blinked at him owlishly, and then shrugged, reasoning that it was better that his best friend think that he were gay rather than the type of pervert who dreamt about fucking his best friend's girl like a dog on a daily basis.

"Ah!" Naruto laughed nervously. "That's fine. I guess that explains why you never go with any of those fan girls, huh? You know I used to be jealous of you when we were younger? That really sucks! Like some sort of torture, ne? Having all those hot girls go after you when you really like dudes?"

"Just shut up about it," was all Gaara could say.

It was true that Gaara as Kazekage had many admirers, both female and male. But if knowing both sides of fame and infamy had taught him anything, it was that those admirers weren't attracted to him, they were attracted to his power, his position, and the sense of mystique that surrounded him. That was all.

Gaara didn't brag about his sexual exploits with Naruto like Naruto did with him because Gaara's were desperately few. Not because Gaara particularly liked it that way, but because it was too hard for him to let others get near him, and he had too many bad experiences with his subordinates developing rivalries over his affections, whether or real or imagined, to encourage him to pursue sexual contact openly. As it was, Gaara defined sex as what happened to other people, other people like Naruto.

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It was on the training ground and not in the bedroom where Hinata was finally able to put to words the feeling of incompleteness between them.

Hinata had the morning off, and knowing that Naruto was with Konohamaru helping him train, she decided to make them lunch. She arrived at training ground 3 to find Naruto watching Moegi and Konohamaru spar.

Moegi was a mess, her frizzy hair, usually bound in two impossibly erect pigtails was loose, and there was dust and mud all over her clothing. Konohamaru did not look much better, but as she watched it became clear that Moegi was at the disadvantage, and Naruto, ever out for the underdog was cheering her on. Hinata smiled at the tableau at first, the familiarity of it reminding her of her match with Neji at the first Chuunin exam six years ago.

As she walked closer to them Naruto's words became intelligible—"Don't give up, Moegi… I believe in you." Hinata found the steady beat of her feet against the packed ground slow until they stopped completely. Hinata's face was hot, her breath coming short as if she had been running, a cold sweat broke out against her brow as she felt jealousy bloom in her chest for the girl.

As they sat down to lunch, Hinata offered Moegi her portion, lying and saying that she had already eaten, and as she watched them silently she listened to Naruto chatter about their match, peppering his words with praises for their hard work, for how much they had improved, particularly Moegi. As she listened Hinata's face grew hotter, realization dawning on her like a brief hard hit to the stomach, she stood abruptly excusing herself and ignoring Naruto's confused looked as she walked hurriedly away from them.

She had finally discovered it. She finally understood why she felt so unexpectedly cold when she was around Naruto. She was jealous—jealous of Moegi, jealous of Sakura, jealous of Sasuke, jealous of Konohamaru, jealous of everybody. Naruto liked Hinata. Naruto supported Hinata. Naruto believed in Hinata. Naruto praised Hinata. But Naruto believed in everyone. Naruto liked everyone. Naruto cheered for everyone.

And although they shared each others' bodies, there was nothing else of him that was really, truly hers. There was nothing special about the way he treated her. He was good to her, he was sweet, but he was just—Naruto being Naruto. And it made his praise; it made every sweet word that he had given her seem suddenly saccharine and cheap, unreal and false, worthless. Hinata felt expendable, like if you cut her out of his life, Naruto would keep on just the same, like she had never been around.

That night she came to him at his apartment. Hinata took Naruto to bed this time and opened herself to him in ways that she never had before. She was rough, she was demanding, and she let out all her anger at him, all of her disappointment at being just another "special" person to him with every ounce of passion and skill until she had him shaking beneath her touch, moaning her name—his oration of the unwitting swan song of their lust.

At dawn she put her shoes on and his eyes cracked open, he swung his arm lazily around her waist gently preventing her from leaving.

"Mmm…breakfast?" his scratchy voice rumbled.

She shook her head, smirking at him through the unshed tears in her eyes.

"Naruto…" her soft voice lilted. She couldn't believe that she was saying it… "Naruto, this is goodbye."

He sat up then, confusion clouding his beautiful blue eyes.

"What? What is it?" he asked, finally sensing the change in her like a sudden drop in pressure or the rumble of distant clouds.

She shook her head again.

"Naruto, I can't b…be with you…anymore."

He leaned into her, turning her to face him as his hand stroked her spine soothingly.

"Hinata…I love you," he said, his eyes sparkling with puzzled wetness of their own.

She looked into his eyes and smiled, "I know… I'm really sorry. But I just don't think I feel for you what you feel for me," she said.

To anyone else, including Naruto, it sounded like she was saying that she didn't love him.

Only she knew the truth, and that was that Naruto didn't know what love was, romantic love, anyway. Maybe Hinata didn't either, but she understood now what it wasn't. And much as she had tried to deny it, it wasn't this comfortable, friendly but casual feeling that he expressed for her, like the affection you might have for a warm old sweater or a doll you'd clung to for too long.

Hinata had matured. She had outgrown comfort and she knew that she needed something different, although what exactly "different" was she could not yet define.

Much to her frustration, Naruto did not disappoint Hinata's expectations of him. After they broke up, the whiskered blond rebounded like a rubber ball. As she withdrew into herself he became just as loud and cheerful, if not more so than he had ever been before, and Hinata knew with a sickening feeling that all her fears had come true. She was ancillary, their relationship was, had been apparently next to meaningless to him, and it hurt, it hurt more than she could express. Especially since they still hung around each other like "friends."

It was especially hurtful when he began to date Sakura two months after they had broken up. Watching them together, the way Naruto held Sakura when she saw them in the street when he thought no one was looking. It was letting him go again, and she wondered desperately if she had made the right decision, if she hadn't just pushed away the best thing that had ever happened to her. Depressed she consoled herself with dreams of escape, of namelessness, a place where she could be away from Naruto, and away from her father who had been right, right about nearly everything.

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"S…Sabaku-sama?"

Gaara jumped slightly when she greeted him, annoyed with himself that it looked like she had frightened him, but at the same time glad of his reaction, it gave her the impression that he had not been secretly watching her out of the corner of his eye like a hungry cat.

Gaara had successfully avoided contact with Hinata for the past six months, he having been in Konoha only twice during that time. Unfortunately this had meant avoiding Naruto as well, and he had frankly felt the mark of both of their absences, though for vastly different reasons. And now she stood in front of him, her glossy ink-blue hair reflecting the orange glow of the street lights outside the ambassador's lodgings in Konoha, wearing an impossibly short dress with a high collar, innocent fodder for more restless nights. It was unfortunate, he reflected that the consulate was in the best part of town—so close to the Hyuuga compound.

Gaara nodded his head stiffly in greeting and her smile deepened.

"It's been too long since I've seen you," Hinata said, her voice filled with something that sounded like longing, and Gaara's mind pounced on the emotion covetously.

"Have you all just arrived?" she asked nodding to the consulate and his guard standing discreetly at a distance.

Gaara nodded again.

"Will you…would you…" Hinata stuttered. "I mean. God I'm so sorry. Um…Would you like to have something to eat…with me?" Hinata asked, her blush spreading over her face and neck like an angry fever.

Gaara ignored the uncomfortable feeling that she has inspired in his stomach and stared at her stonily. The prospect both thrilled and annoyed him. If only she were aware of how difficult it was to be around her, she would have been kind enough not to even bring it up.

"I mean…Na…Naruto is going to be there, too," she said to entice him. "Uh, as well as…some other people," she said, distaste flickering over her face as she said the last.

"P…please?" she pleaded, giving him her most winsome, shy smile, the tips of her fingers automatically meeting in a gesture of anxiety.

"Yes," Gaara said, finally, regretting his choice even as he said it.

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Reposted! Thanks to Bob-Geko for the great advice. Exactly what I had been thinking. HEART.


	2. Chapter 2

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~ CHAPTER 2 ~

Redefinition

When they arrived at the café, Naruto was already sitting down in a booth with an order of udon—in Naruto's case merely an appetizer to the real meal he would have as soon as his companions showed up. He greeted them with an enthusiastic wave, noodles dangling from his chin like gooey stalactites or the tusks of a terminally ill-equipped walrus.

"Gaara!" Naruto enthused when he saw his friend. "I haven't seen you in a million years, I thought you were dead or something!"

"No luck," Gaara said sliding into the booth unencumbered by his gourd which he left at the consulate along with his guards, much to their disapproval. Gaara sat in the middle of the bench, expecting Hinata to sit next to Naruto, and so was surprised when she remained standing, awkwardly. Naruto, coming to her rescue, blurted out.

"Oi, Gaara. Don't hog the seat. I know you like personal space, but sheesh!" he joked.

Confused and surprised, Gaara scooted towards the wall as Hinata sat down next to him, the brush of her knee against his making his leg jerk as she sat down. Gaara closed his eyes and tried to ignore the thought that this was the closest he had ever been to her before, but then he realized that closing his eyes only made him more intensely aware of light sent of peonies that she wore when she was not on assignment.

"Ne…Sabaku? You okay?" Naruto asked.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and he glared at Naruto. It was his fault he was so uncomfortable right now, if he only knew.

The reason for their strange seating arrangement soon arrived, accompanied by Ino.

Hinata watched Naruto light up like a stadium the moment Sakura walked through the door. She felt her stomach sink in tandem. _Did he have to be so damn happy to see her?_ She thought, before scolding herself for such a selfish thought.

"Sakura-chan!" he cried and went to kiss her on the mouth as soon as she slid into the seat beside him. Sakura sensing correctly that Hinata would probably not appreciate any displays of affection between them deftly turned her head and their embrace became a chaste kiss on the cheek which Naruto grumbled about.

Gaara was shocked by his friend's behavior to say the least. His gaze snapped to Hinata and he saw her looking down at the table top, trying to ignore them. _Did this mean…?_

His thoughts were interrupted when Ino, deciding she'd rather sit next to Hinata than Sakura and Naruto's roving hands, sat down, spurring Hinata to scoot in next to Gaara, their legs touching now.

Gaara stared at the table top himself now, trying to not betray the heated way that his body reacted to Hinata's and the new realization that something had drastically changed between Naruto and the girl sitting next to him, whose short dress he couldn't help but notice had bunched up considerably, revealing what was no doubt a bright expanse of unutterably soft, white skin beneath the table.

Gaara crossed his arms against his chest to suppress the way his hand twitched at the thought of casually letting his digits pass over the surface of her bare thigh. His thoughts were broken when the waitress came to take their order, flustered to find who she recognized to be the leader of the Hidden Village of Sand wedged in the corner of the booth looking extremely pissed.

After she bustled nervously off, Ino's too cheerful voice chimed in.

"Hinata…So tell me about that liaison from the Hidden Village of Grass. He was a hunk and a half!"

_Hidden Village of Grass?_ Gaara thought, his brow knit.

"Oh…um. Married, actually," Hinata said, to which Ino made a disappointed noise in her throat. "I was really only meeting him to discuss what sort of exchange program they might have to offer."

"Exchange? With the Grass Village? Why?" Naruto asked, incredulous.

_Because it's very, very far away from here,_ Hinata's thoughts interjected darkly.

"Well, they do have a variety of botanical centers devoted to…" she could see that Naruto's gaze had already glazed over. "…Um. It doesn't matter anyways, I'm afraid that since the Stone Country has began to show some rather…well, not so friendly gestures lately. As a result they are not entertaining any exchanges that might be a liability."

"Oh, that's too bad," Ino said, smirking. "He was cute!" she added flippantly, just because she knew it would annoy Hinata.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino knowing that she was trying to get under the pale girl's skin. Hinata really bugged Ino, she knew, because it was impossible to get the girl angry. Ino had described her alternately as a robot or a little pill bug that rolls into a ball whenever it's upset. The descriptions were perhaps not flattering, but no less true, she thought as she gazed at the beautiful, shy girl.

"Sand has a very well-established exchange program…" Sakura commented, dangling the obvious in front of Hinata, knowing full well that Gaara, the man capable of determining her approval was sitting right next to her, staring at Hinata not too subtly out of the corner of his eyes.

Turning her gaze to Gaara, whose leg and shoulder she was aware were very much touching hers at the moment, Hinata blushed a deep red and then looked away quickly, her hand trailing down to pull nervously at the hem of her skirt which she knew had trailed up a little too far, causing her fingers to flutter over his leg accidentally.

"Uh…well, I had thought about it, certainly," Hinata said, uncomfortably conscious that they were all looking at her now. "But, the caliber of ninja that are accepted…like Shikamaru…"

"That lazy bastard," Ino interrupted. "You could do circles around him."

"I doubt that," she grinned timidly, swallowing hard. "Besides, the program or, at least so I understand," Hinata continued glancing shyly at Gaara for confirmation, "Focuses on building combat skills and exchanging training methods. My areas of expertise are in medical botanicals and team dynamics. I don't know that I would be terribly useful…" her voice trailed off and she looked back at him, waiting for a response.

"That's the way it has been…" Gaara trailed off, struggling to convey ineptly that she could persuade him to change things, if only she showed an interest.

But to his disappointment she let the topic drop and then asked to be excused so she could go wash up before eating. Frustrated with his inability to engage her, he watched her walk away.

"Sakura," Ino said suddenly. "Come with me to the bar. I think Sabaku-sama here scared off our waitress," she said, offering Gaara a flirtatious grin. He noted as they walked away a contrived sway to Ino's hips and snorted. Gaara looked up at his friend.

"When did this happen?" Gaara asked.

"Sakura?" Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Two months ago."

"And Hinata?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest in a rare sign of defensiveness.

"Hell if I understand it," he said staring at the table.

"What did you do?" Gaara asked, his tone modulating an unspoken menace if he didn't get the truth.

Naruto's hands flew up in the air in an expression of exasperation.

"Aaah! She broke up with me, okay? I didn't _do_ anything. Nothing that I've been able to figure out…" Naruto said thinking back to that last night of passion that he and Hinata had shared. It was like she had been a different person then, so intense; it had frightened him a little, made him wonder where the gentle girl he had to coax to hold his hand in the street had gone. And then in the morning she said goodbye to him, to them, for good, like all her passion for him, all her love had evaporated in one intense exchange and then left nothing in its place. He didn't get it.

"I asked her…she said that…she just didn't feel the same way. Chicks, huh?" he shrugged and then realized again who he was talking to as he met the black rimmed gaze of his seemingly celibate, ambigiously gay friend. "Well, anyway. Take my word for it."

Ino and Sakura returned triumphantly with their drinks. Gaara sneered unconsciously as Ino squeezed onto the bench, sliding up next to him with his unopened beer in her hand and that stupid smile on her face again. Hinata came back to the table shortly and stood a bit dejectedly a few feet away from the table, biting her lip.

"Ano…I'm not feeling very well. I'm sorry, I think I'm just going to go home," Hinata said, bowing slightly and fidgeting with her hands again.

"Okay," Naruto said with genuine disappointment in his voice. This "being friends" thing was a lot harder than he thought it would be. "I hope you feel better."

"Thanks, I'm sure I will. Goodnight," Hinata said before turning.

Gaara watched her go but his gaze was eclipsed by Ino's face darting into his vision, her hand cupped in her chin while she pouted suggestively.

"Move," he said.

"Huh?" Ino uttered dumbly.

"Move, I'm leaving," Gaara replied, elbowing his way out of the booth and following Hinata's path across the restaurant and through the door.

"Oi, Gaara. Nice seeing you after six months!" He heard Naruto drawl sarcastically as the door shut behind him.

Inside the restaurant Ino looked at her two companions.

"What the hell's his problem?" she asked.

"Ino," Sakura said, grasping her eternally optimistic, if incurably single-minded friend's hand. "He's Sabaku no Gaara, that's his problem."

Naruto's gaze on the other hand was fixed on the dark street through the window, wondering if Gaara's quick exit could really be so coincidental.

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"Stop!" Hinata said sharply.

Gaara froze in his tracks, fifty feet behind her. He had been following Hinata home, quietly undetected, or so he thought. It was not that he had intended to refrain from greeting her, but as soon as he caught up with her outside the restaurant he realized that her shoulders were shaking, and that he could hear the muffled sounds of her crying. Gaara didn't deal with that sort of thing. He didn't know how.

Now it seemed that she had noticed him, and he tried to calculate if it would be better to bolt now knowing that she might already have identified him or to stand his ground. He decided that the later of the two would be less…well, weird. Gaara stood and waited for her to turn. But Hinata did not, instead she approached one of the wide oaks that lined the street and leaned against it, her one arm encircling it like a friend.

"Stop," she whispered again, and he realized that she was talking to herself, her forehead now resting on the cool textured bark of the tree. "Why are you so…fucking useless?" she asked the cool night air. He ducked behind the trunk of another tree as she turned to lean against her own, staring up at the moonlight through its leaves.

"…Gaara," she said finally, smirking at the moonlight as she wiped at her tears. He froze again, waiting for her to call him out, but that moment didn't come, and as he looked at her smiling up at the sky he realized that he would have given anything to be inside her head at that moment.

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A/N:

Okay, so did anyone else laugh at the "terminally ill equiped walrus" line?

I could not stop laughing when I wrote that. I had the chance to try the line out in conversation the other day and neither of my friends even blinked! I was totally scandalized. Perhaps it doesn't paint a vivid enough picture?

Think of it, walrus with noodle tusks! Do it! Are you visualizing it? Can you see it???

Where does the funny end? Ah, okay. done with my dorking out about that image. I just feel the need to ensure that it's properly appreciated.

If you like and you know it, please review. 3


	3. Chapter 3

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~ CHAPTER 3 ~

Opening

Hinata stood outside Tsunade's door trying to ignore the twin glares of the guard from Konohagakure and the guard from Sunagakure. Tsunade-sama and Sabaku-sama were in there speaking. She had no idea why she had been summoned.

Her gaze slid to the face of Toma, the young Konoha nin of fourteen who was guarding the door, doing his best to appear professional next to the man from Suna, whose intimidating presence projected itself around him like wall.

Feeling mishevious, Hinata winked at Toma and was rewarded with a crack in his countenance. A bright blush spread up his neck and over his face, turning the tips of his ears crimson. She smirked shyly and to her surprise the man from Suna gave an indignant snort, causing her to struggle with her own laughter as she watched Toma fight for the dignity of keeping a straight face.

Their exchange was interrupted when Shizune opened the door and stuck her head out.

"Hyuuga-san, please come in."

Hinata nodded and entered, wiping her hands nervously over her rumpled outfit. She gaped at the assembled mass, realizing that she was standing before the full Konohagakure council, Tsunade, as well as Gaara and the representatives from his council as well. She bowed hastily wishing to herself that she had taken more care in her appearance this morning.

Tsunade told her to rise and she glanced at Gaara who was wearing his formal robes and lounging in his chair like a lazy panther. His kohl rimmed blues eyes met hers. He didn't even blink. Hinata shivered as she cast her glance quickly aside. Gaara looked infinitely more intimidating than he had last night in his street clothes. He was, she realized, truly a stranger to her.

"How may I be of service, to you, Honored Kages and esteemed Council?" she asked bowing again before kneeling on the floor, keeping her head bowed slightly, her hands touching the mat in a sign of respect to their position.

Before Tsunade spoke she heard a man's voice whisper that she was the first Konoha nin to show proper respect and Hinata blushed. In Suna they were much more hierarchical and strict than the more democratic Konohagakure. She couldn't help grimacing at the thought that no place could be more closed than the clan she was born into, these men in their silly hats could not even begin to imagine.

If articulate deference impressed them, they should be prepared to be dazzled by her practiced performance, that was of course if Gaara's gaze didn't tare a hole through her soul first.

"Hinata-san," Tsunade drawled, deliberately using the more personal first name as an affront to the man who had just insulted her village for its lack of formality. "You have been summoned before the council because a proposal has been made—that Konoha and Suna's exchange program be expanded upon, to include representatives of the healing sciences. What do you think of this?" she asked, knowing full well that in Suna the subordinate's opinion would rarely be solicited.

"Hokage-sama, you flatter me by asking my humble opinion. Respectfully I must offer that it is my feeling that true allies may only benefit from the open, honest exchange of ideas."

"And what if I told you," she continued. "That your name has come up as the first person to take part in this new exchange?"

Hinata's pulse seemed to stumble; she would have to choose her words very carefully.

"The council honors me by entertaining the thought that I would be equal to the task. Although I feel there are others who are more accomplished than I, I would not dare to suggest that their judgment was in any way at fault. If the opportunity were offered, I would accept the terms with the vow that I would not under any circumstances disappoint."

"Is that a 'yes,' Hinata?" Tsunade smirked.

"Yes," Hinata said smiling at the bamboo mat between her fingers. "It would be a great honor to serve both nations in this way."

"Well, a vote then?" Tsunade asked Gaara who sat to her left. He nodded, his gaze firmly set on the girl kneeling on the floor.

"All those in favor?" she asked.

"Aye," the word carried like a deep rumble that vibrated in her chest.

"The aye's have it," Tsunade responded.

"Thank you," Hinata whispered to the mat, but more specifically to the man sitting to the left of Tsunade peering at her emotionlessly in his stiff white robes.

"Good. Congratulations on your new appointment, Hinata. Please return home and await instructions."

Hinata stood, bowed deeply and left, her mind buzzing. Why had this happened? Had Gaara done this for her? These and a thousand other questions crackled and spun through her mind. She must know. Hinata prayed that Gaara's instruction would come soon, and with it, some explaination as to why this wonderful thing--an opening, a chance for escape, was being handed to her.

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Her legs were getting numb, and Hinata shifted uncomfortably in the morning cold. She didn't know what time Sabaku no Gaara awoke now that he was free of the tanuki, but she hoped it was early. Hinata had to speak to him.

She had waited patiently all yesterday to receive instruction, or at least some contact. It never came. Nervously she picked at imaginary dirt beneath her fingernails as she examined the door of the consulate and her watch alternately. 6:57, her watch read.

She looked up as the main door opened and two Sand nin with sleepy expressions walked towards the main gate. Watching them unlock the gate and open it she crossed the street, brushing nervously at lint that wasn't there on her best black assignment outfit.

Hinata wanted to make a better visual impression than the rumpled one she displayed two days before. As she walked forward towards the consulate her sharp eyes detected a flicker of movement as a pair of curtains shut in a room on the top floor of the building.

A man and a woman took up their posts on either side of the gate, signifying that the consulate was open for business for the day. Making a conscious effort to look more confident than she felt, Hinata squared her shoulders and walked towards the two nin.

"Your business?" the male nin asked before she could cross the threshold.

Hinata took a deep breath.

"I've been appointed to serve as the new Medical Liaison to Sunagakure, I was hoping that I might seek an audience…with…the Kazekage…" Hinata realized how ridiculous this sounded even as she said it.

These two might not have even heard of the new appointment, fresh as it was, and the idea of some random Konoha nin approaching the consulate and asking to speak personally with the Kazekage? The idea was absurd. Both of the guards seemed to think so, too. The man she was speaking to grinned. His eyes flickered to his companion and then back to Hinata. She stood her ground.

"Really. You'd like to see the Kazekage, is it? Well in _that_ case, I think…" but Hinata was forever deprived of his opinion when the shorter man was cut off.

"Uchi, Kiku--attention."

Hinata looked up and saw the man she knew only as "Baki." The two guards had snapped to attention, like perfect parodies of marionettes, their spines pulled taught by an invisible hand. Hinata bowed her head in a sign of respect to Baki.

"Ohayo-gozimasu, Baki-dono. I'm sorry to trouble you, but I was hoping that I might arrange a meeting with Kazekage-sama later today, or at least leave a note for him. I understand he is very busy, but…"

"Come," the tall man said--his face half-veiled and indecipherable.

Hinata swallowed hard as she followed him up the steps and into the cool enclosure of the building. They passed the reception desk where a Kunoichi sipping at her cup of coffee gave Hinata a questioning glance as she was led by Baki through the door and then up a flight of stairs concealed by yet another door.

"Ano…it's no trouble for me to wait…if there's a more convenient time…" Hinata ventured uncomfortably.

Hinata had planned to wait hours if needed to see the Kazekage, she hardly expected to gain entrance so easily, after all her pety troubles were hardly a priority. The man in front of her only grunted by way of response.

Hinata was led to a suite on the third floor. Another pair of guards stood beside this door as well. At the threshold Baki went to open the door but then hesitated as he looked back at Hinata.

"Ano…as I was saying…" she interjected quietly, the prospect of meeting Gaara so suddenly was terrifying, and her thundering heart beat attested to the fact. She had expected to have time to collect her thoughts once she arrived.

"Wait here," Baki ordered.

Hinata nodded and stared out the window as Baki entered the suite. She heard the door click behind him and let out the breath that she was holding. Hinata looked up at the two men standing on either side of the door and nodded to them before turning to look outside. Noting that the window was facing the street, she wondered if it was Baki who had been peering out at her earlier.

"Hyuuga-san."

Wide-eyed Hinata turned to see Baki standing behind her.

"The Kazekage will see you now."

"Oh…right _now_?" she said, sounding a bit incredulous. "I…uh…mean, thank you, Baki-dono."

Baki led her into a sitting room infused with soft morning sunshine. There sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a low table full of scrolls was Gaara.

His red hair was mussed and sticking out at odd angles on his head. He wore a thin silk robe that was not secured properly, leaving a wide "V" of bare skin on his chest open to her eyes. Hinata noted unintentionally the muscles of his chest before she yanked her gaze away to a spot slightly over his left shoulder.

Gaara seemed to ignore them for a second as he rolled up a scroll and then sealed it carefully. His eyes, bright as sea glass, focused on her and Hinata bowed low to him in greeting.

"Baki…leave," Gaara instructed as Hinata stared at her knees.

"Sit," he instructed her.

Hinata approached the low table and sat across from him, mentally scolding herself after her eyes traipsed back to his chest. After a moment's silence, Hinata cleared her throat and began tremulously.

"S...Sabaku-sama…"

"Ocha," he interjected.

Bemused, Hinata looked up at his face, and blinked at him.

"Sorry?" she said.

"Tea," he asked again as she watched an extra cup float towards her, guided by a wisp of sand, shortly joined by a steaming tea pot which proceeded to fill her cup and then return to its place again without spilling a drop. Her eyes noticed for the first time his gourd resting just behind him. _Such control_…she admired.

"Thank you," she said. "And thank you for allowing me to meet with you without notice. I told Baki-dono that I was prepared to wait, I hope I haven't disturbed you."

Gaara shrugged, eying the well-shaped form of the woman across from him and the glossiness of her long ink-blue hair. She had taken care to dress herself before seeing him this morning.

Gaara noted her eyes flicker again to his bare skin before fluttering away as her face turned a delicate pink. For a moment, he allowed himself to entertain the hope that maybe, just maybe this attraction was not one-sided. But first, business.

"And?" he asked her, waiting for her to explain the reason for this early morning meeting, although Gaara could guess. He had left her waiting all day yesterday without a word.

"Ano…I was hoping…with all due respect I…"

"Say it," he said, his voice devoid of censure or annoyance, just the simple wish that she would honor his time with directness. Swallowing, Hinata nodded and began again.

"Why w…was I selected for this appointment?" she asked glancing at his face briefly before her gaze fell to her hands.

Gaara was silent for a long moment as he watched her fidget with the hem of her black shirt. Black suited her.

"Crosspollination…" Gaara began, tearing his eyes away from her body. "As you said, Hyuuga-san. Our villages can only…benefit from the exchange of ideas."

He watched her expression as her mouth settled into a frown.

"You don't approve of my reasoning?" he asked.

Hinata shook her head and for the first time looked up and held his gaze.

"I don't approve of your _words,_ Sabaku-sama. They are my words. Please, give me your own."

"You were planning on an exchange with the Village of Grass," Gaara stated, deftly deflecting her. "Why?"

"Well…The Village of the Grass has a state-of-the-art botanical research facility, not to mention many greenhouses with…" Hinata began.

"And my country has nothing to offer in this respect?" Gaara interrupted.

"Oh, no! That's not really what I meant. You have your own botanical compound and there are many unique species that bloom in the desert…I just…"

"You don't think that Suna will offer a suitable challenge?"

"No, no. That's not it at all. I'm honored, honestly. I'm really actually afraid that I might not be…" Hinata stopped and swallowed hard, flustered.

"The problem, then?" Gaara demanded, setting down the stylus he had been fiddling with and focusing his attention entirely on her.

"I…" Hinata stopped and bit her pale bottom lip. "I…" she continued in a soft voice. "I think you're being nice to me."

She looked back, and saw his carefully blank expression and felt very exposed. Gaara knew about her and Naruto, had likely guessed that she was unabashedly pursuing an appointment to another village to escape him and the memory of their relationship.

This whole medical liaison was a guise, it was a bone thrown to a pathetic dog. Surely his keen eyes didn't miss how fragile she was? She didn't know what inspired him to be so generous to her, a girl he hardly knew, but she had to know what he thought of her, if he found her useless or maybe her skills truly did interest him?

Unbidden, a tear amassed at the corner of her eye and she glared intently at the open window in an attempt to disguise it.

"If there's one thing you should know about me, Sabaku-sama…"

"Gaara," he said and her gaze snapped to him, narrowing with confusion.

"Gaa-ra," he repeated slowly and he watched as her eyes widened and a tear slid down her cheek, disappearing slowly down the collar of her shirt.

"…I hate p…pity," she said, voice firm, though it traveled through trembling lips.

"Then you are fortunate," Gaara said, his voice smooth and dark like hot brandy. "You'll find no condescension. My reasons for appointing you to serve my village are entirely…selfish."

A small tinge of guilt flickered at the back of his mind as he said this. Hinata was intelligent and a good medic, but by no means a true genius. His gambit to bring her with him was selfish, and selfish on a very personal level.

But he justified his indulgence with the thought that not only were her skills needed, but the power of her clan, which she represented, was something of interest to his village as well.

Hinata looked up at him, comforted by the thought that perhaps he really believed she had knowledge that could help his village. She nodded and watched as his gaze moved over her shoulder. Hinata turned her head to see Baki entering the room.

"Yes?" Gaara asked, a bit harshly.

"Your 7:30 appointment is here," Baki stated.

Hinata stood hastily, keenly aware that she had taken up his time.

"Thank you for your time…" her gaze fluttered from Gaara to his advisor Baki, who was waiting patiently beside her. "…Gaara-sama," she said softly and quickly hurried away like a frightened hind.

Baki turned to his leader and one-time student and stared at him, wondering exactly what the boy's interest in the young Hyuuga could be. It was abnormal, for Gaara to show attention to anyone, let alone to allow them to speak with him so informally. Baki watched as Gaara looked at him and quirked a hairless brow upwards, demanding silently why he was still present.

"I'll allow you some time to get dressed?" Baki asked.

Gaara nodded. Baki sighed at the young man and went to explain the delay to the morning's first petitioner.

Down in the street, Hinata was two blocks away when she realized that Gaara had never really answered her question.

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A/N:

Thanks for the welcome back to the ficdom, Gracemis and Jbramx2. I 3 you both. Thanks also to Winter_Ink for the review. It's readers who share what they think like you that really make this worth it for me.


	4. Chapter 4

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~ CHAPTER 4 ~

Push

There it was again, that prickle on the back of her neck like cold breath against her flushed, sweaty skin. She allowed her naked eyes to scan her periphery and saw again-- nothing.

Hinata shook her head and mopped at her brow with the hem of her sleeve. Contrary to what she had hoped when she first began working with the lagerstroemia speciosa specimens in Suna's greenhouse 7, she had discovered over her past week in Suna that the sunset did little to lower the temperature of the building until late at night, when the cold air finally won over the sun's lingering affects on the building.

Hinata's gaze jerked to the side as she saw the foliage shifting. She stared hard at the shifting leaves before a small lizard revealed itself, peering at her speculatively in a sidelong way, its long tongue testing the air at measured intervals.

"Were you watching me? Suna certainly has some very small spies," Hinata remarked as she shook her head at her own exhaustion-induced paranoia.

"A comment on my stature?" A low voice inquired.

Hinata whirled, holding the spade she was using to repot the lagerstroemia like a blade poised for attack.

Sabaku no Gaara stood behind her wearing his usual immaculate black outfit. His arms were crossed over his chest and he stared at her spade like an offending insect.

"No, Kazekage-sama, you surprised me," Hinata gasped as she turned to set the spade down. Hinata looked down at her left hand and realized that she had crushed the plant she had been repotting.

"Oh, poor thing," she said as she set the ruined plant down as well. Hinata turned back to Gaara and bowed.

"How may I serve you…Gaara-sama?" she asked, remembering the more personal way he wished her to address him when they were alone. It felt strange to her saying it, as she was so used to formality.

Perhaps it meant that Sabaku-sama thought of her as a friend? Despite the time they had spent together with Naruto, he had always seemed too distant and disinterested to be anything more than an acquantance. Regardless of its meaning, Hinata appreciated the gesture, lonely as she was in this new place.

Gaara felt his eye twitch involuntarily as a few particular ways that Hinata could serve him rolled across his brain like a neon marquee.

"I came here to apologize," Gaara said.

Hinata blinked at him, confusion marring her usual pleasant expression.

"Surely…" she began.

"…I missed our appointment today due to another engagement," Gaara interrupted her. "Your first report on your exchange. But then I found out from my retainer that you in fact never arrived. How fortunate. You're psychic?"

"Ah…try stupid?" Hinata suggested. "Today is _Wednesday_ isn't it?" She asked, lifting her hand to her forehead in an expression of dismay, and leaving a broad splotch of dirt in its place.

Gaara nodded.

"I'm so sorry!" Hinata said bowing again to him.

"You will give your report to me now. Come," he said as he turned and began to walk away.

"Oh…umm…of course…" Hinata said, hurrying to follow him, while turning back to look anxiously at her unfinished project. It would have to wait until later tonight, or perhaps the next day.

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He walked quickly. For all that Gaara was only a half a foot taller than she, Hinata found herself trotting to keep up with him. It didn't help of course that Hinata stopped every few moments to look at this or that momentarily.

They were traveling through the market district at the moment and although many of the shops were closed, the restaurants and bars seemed to be in full swing. Hinata thought about asking Gaara where they were going, but doing so seemed impolite, like perhaps she didn't trust him.

Hinata paused momentarily to note an apothecary with a huge glass window lined with jars of concoctions, many that she could not identify. She took a moment to memorize its name and location before turning to look for Gaara's retreating form. Her pulsed lurched as the realized that he had disappeared from view.

Running forward Hinata discreetly activated her byakuugan and found that Gaara was waiting for her, his face brooding, his shoulders bunched up in annoyance down the next cross street. Hinata sprinted to join him and smiled in apology at the quizzical look of irritation that Gaara gave her.

"Your city is very distracting…" she offered by way of explanation.

The "street" that they had turned down hardly deserved the term. Litter was strewn over the wide alley way and the light from a single bulb in a broken fixture lit their way. Hinata unconsciously trotted up just behind Gaara, as close as she could be without making him uncomfortable.

Gaara cocked his head to the side, his blue gaze rolling over her briefly and then they turned into a small courtyard of sorts between buildings. There he stopped before a door and knocked. A small window in the door slid back, revealing approximately 10 square inches of nose and eyes. The eyes bulged slightly when their owner registered that the Kazekage standing in front of the door.

"Ah! Good evening, Kazekage-sama…"

The door opened to reveal a smoky room filled with mostly male figures swathed in the loose clothing and headgear typical of Sunakagure citizens. There was one difference though, she noted, almost all of them wore a sunagakure forehead protector. Nervously Hinata picked at her own protector tied around her neck as the hot gaze of foreign eyes curiously wandered over her body, assessing her, sizing her up, wondering why she was with the Kazekage.

Not realizing that he had stopped, Hinata bumped into Gaara's shoulder. Her eyes widened as he looked at her.

"Gomen…" she said and turned to see the man who had let them in shooing away a drunk couple from a rounded booth in the corner, promising drinks on the house. Hinata soon realized why as Gaara then led her to the table that the man and woman had just been evicted from.

He removed his gourd and slid into the seat and then positioned himself with his back to the wall, so that he could have a full view of the room and the door. Hinata sat down a few feet away from him and anxiously fiddled with her hands. At least this time, she reflected, Naruto and Sakura weren't with them, and there was significantly more elbow room.

"Ano…do you…come here often?" she asked Gaara nervously, a little surprised that this was where he had chosen for her to give her report.

Gaara shrugged and Hinata took this to be an affirmative. They sat in silence for a few moments and Hinata, desperate to stop the incessant fiddling of her digits unconsciously grabbed the paper napkin in front of her and began to tear it into neat strips.

"Why are you doing that?" Gaara asked.

Hinata dropped the napkin, her skin turning a blotchy read.

"S…sorry…New places make me…uncomfortable…"

"Suna must be difficult, then," Gaara commented, his gaze scanning the room for their tardy server.

"Oh, no!" Hinata shook her head vehemently. "It's not like that…um…how can I explain it? This is going to sound strange but…I don't have an objective…well, that is to say, if I'm not on a mission…I…well, it's like I…don't really know what to do with myself?" Hinata said and then blushed as Gaara looked at her and just stared, his blank green-blue eyes boring into her skin, making a thin sheen of sweat collect at her brow.

"Dirt…" he said, motioning to the side of her face.

"Oh, thank you," she mumbled as she retrieved the shredded remains of her napkin and wiped at the approximate area on her face that he indicated. Gaara insisted on treating her with a cat-like stare while she did all of this, causing her to wipe more energetically.

"It smeared," was his only comment when she stopped.

"Is there a bathroom?" Hinata asked, desperate for the opportunity to be away from his single-minded scrutiny for a few moments.

"Behind the bar," Gaara indicated.

Hinata thanked him and stood. Walking over to the bar, she said something to the bartender who then guided her away. It was then that Gaara noticed him, his brother Kankuro, waving at him and grinning from ear to ear from a stool at the bar.

_Shit,_ he thought. The girl was distracting. Gaara hadn't noticed him before. It didn't help that Kankuro was in street cloths today. Knowing his brother all too well, Gaara steeled himself for the coming embarrassment.

Kankuro waited until Hinata returned, her face freshly washed and her long hair rebraided, to swagger over, as if to inflict maximal punishment on Gaara for the accident of their relation.

"Aniki!" Kankuro beamed throwing his hands up in the air in an expression of sheer exuberance.

_Aniki? _Hinata wondered. _Could this be Gaara's brother?_ She had never seen him before without his usual layer of face paint. _Did Gaara just...growl?_

"Who is this beautiful girl you have with you?" Kankuro asked loudly. Not waiting for a proper introduction from Gaara, Kankuro proceeded to scoot into the booth next to the madly blushing Hinata. Hinata didn't deal well with compliments. Kankuro threw his arm up over the back of the seat, very close to touching Hinata's shoulders and stuck out his hand.

"Ah…Hyuuga Hinata-desu," Hinata said, shaking Kankuro's hand while at the same time edging towards Gaara on the seat in order to maintain some modicum of personal space between herself and this new invader.

"Kankuro, Kankuro-desu," Kankuro enthused as he shook Hinata's hand violently.

"You're drunk older brother," Gaara said, his voice menacing.

"And you're not! But don't worry nisan will take care of that," Kankuro smiled as he turned to whistle at the nearest server, leaning backwards into Hinata as he did so and causing her to move further towards Gaara in the process.

Hinata, who was now sitting dangerously close to Gaara was fidgeting furiously with her fingers. She wondered about Kankuro and his drunkenness. Was this typical of him? Every time she had seen him before he seemed just as somber, and sober, as his siblings.

Kankuro took this moment while Hinata was turned inwards to turn back and catch Gaara's gaze. Kankuro winked at him. _Bastard,_ Gaara thought. _What on earth are you playing at? _Whatever it was, Gaara thought as their server came over and Kankuro ordered a pitcher of beer,there would be consequences.

"Do you drink beer Hyuuga-san?" Kankuro asked as he poured them each a glass.

Hinata shook her head.

"Ah, well this is a wheat beer…it's sweeter than a typical beer. I think you'll like it."

Hinata took a polite sip of the beer that Kankuro offered and found that it actually wasn't bad as she anticipated. She took another.

"You two hungry?" Kankuro asked.

"That _is_ the reason I came here," Gaara ground out between his tight jaw.

"I was going to give Kaze…um…Gaara-s..sama my report," Hinata said.

"Report, at 11 o'clock? Hyuuga-san, my brother has his bad habits, and working all the time is one of them. Don't let him bully you into doing it too."

"Oh, no! I was working late anyway. Besides, I forgot our appointment earlier…it's only fair," Hinata trailed off as Kankuro took another swig of beer and then yelled a food order at no one in particular.

Kankuro turned back to the table and caught his brother's murderous expression.

"Ne…Hyuuga-san. Do you think my brother is scary?" Kankuro asked in a stage whisper.

Hinata looked over at Gaara who suddenly looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

"No…why?" Hinata asked, puzzled. It was true that she had once been terrified of him, but Gaara had changed so much since she first knew of him, just as she had. He was still intimidating certainly, but he was a powerful man, and Hinata was used to being around powerful men.

Kankuro just laughed and poured himself another drink.

"Kankuro, state your business and leave," Gaara said.

"No business, sir. Just wanted to introduce myself to this young lady and keep you company," Kankuro responded.

"Your company is not required. If you…"

"Fine, fine!" Kankuro said. "I know when I'm not wanted. But let me just ask you this…you have a date yet for Tanabata?"

Gaara shook his head.

"Stag again, then? You'll start to worry the council of elders…"

"Do _you _have someone?" Gaara interjected crossly, his attempts to verbally to strong arm his brother out of their vicinity had been deflected. The next option was physical violence.

"No…But I'm not the one they expect to produce the next generation of leaders," Kankuro said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Thank God," Gaara commented dryly and was rewarded by the sound of Hinata's soft laughter.

"Aiii…You agree with him, Hyuuga-san?" Kankuro asked with.

Hinata shook her head furiously.

"Gomenasai, you just…you're…" She stopped herself from applying the word "cute" to the Kazekage and his brother out of a certain modicum of self-preservation. "You remind me of a friend of mine back home…" she said quietly.

"Really, who? Maybe I know him," Kankuro asked.

"Inuzuka Kiba," Hinata replied.

"That loud mouth? May be I _have_ had too much to drink," Kankuro joked before he took another drink.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh at her friend's expense. Kiba had the reputation for being almost as loud as Naruto.

_Naruto…_Hinata cursed herself for letting her thoughts wander unbidden back to the man who she had promised herself she would stop thinking of while she was here. It was so hard, though. He had been a part of her for so long. He would continue to be, she knew, but the way she felt about him would have to change first.

Kankuro praised the waiter profusely as, contrary to Hinata's expectations, the food order arrived. He invited Gaara and Hinata to eat from the dishes he had requested and Hinata helped herself to the items on three plates, realizing for the first time her hunger and remarking that she had forgotten to eat since that morning.

Kankuro related that Hinata was not the only one who forgot to eat. Gaara himself often forgot practical things like meals and sleep, as if somehow his mind sometimes refused to believe that it was attached to a body.

Hinata wondered to herself if the demon and its boundless energy had once enabled Gaara to treat his body so poorly without consequences.

Sensing Gaara's stubborn nature, she thought how frustrating it must be, dealing with his limited physical resources now that the boundless energy of the Tanuki was gone. But then again, there were other benefits to normalcy. He would never have to be subject to the Tanuki's will for one.

The three of them continued to drink and eat as Kankuro told Hinata about their village, about its history, and frequently about Gaara, and the reforms he had instated since growing into his role as Kazekage.

Hinata sat in silence mostly, deepening Kankuro's narrative with questions here and there, and learning. By the sound of it, Kankuro didn't think much of the direction the village was going in prior to Gaara's appointment, which was understandable, since that direction had involved collaboration with the Sound and Orichimaru. Kankuro's pride in his younger brother was obvious and Hinata couldn't help but smile at it.

"Can we talk about something else?" Gaara asked at a pause in Kankuro's seemingly endless oration, secretly pleased that his older brother was talking him up for some reason but becoming uncomfortable with the attention.

"You've accomplished so much," Hinata said to Gaara, the amount of alcohol she had consumed, although relatively small had given her mind a relaxed feeling, and when she spoke those words she looked Gaara in the eye and gave him a warm smile.

It made Gaara look away from her, thankful for the mask of sand he always wore. It was strange, spending time with Hinata. He only understood her as an image before, a fantasy in his mind's eye. Sitting here and watching her interact with Kankuro made him begin to realize how real she really was. Somehow it made the objective of her appointment… more challenging. And then there was that guilt again, lodged like a foreign object in his brain.

Hinata thought of her family as she took another drink. She thought about how, unlike Gaara, she had been denied the ability to shape her families' destiny as he had been able to shape his village's, because she had willingly forsaken the role of future leader of her clan. _Was it a mistake? _she wondered.

It was a decision so filled with ambivalence for her that she felt she would never truly put it aside, and now she felt her decision about Naruto had joined it, rivaling for supremacy in her heart and mind. Hinata wondered if she would ever make a decision that she could feel good about.

"Ne…Hinata-san? Come back to us…"

Kankuro's voice interrupted her thoughts. Hinata blinked, noting that Kankuro had used her name in a familiar way. She did not correct him. It made her feel good to think that he and Gaara thought of her as someone that they might call "friend."

"Oh…I'm sorry! You should tell me about this "Tanabata," she said, looking to Kankuro, the more talkative of the two.

"Huh…I think it would be more fun if Gaara told you about it. I'll be back," Kankuro said as he excused himself form the booth and walked to the bathroom.

Hinata turned her white gaze to Gaara and she smiled shyly. Gaara shifted in his seat.

"So…?" Hinata said, noting the way he looked away from her. Could it be that she made him feel uncomfortable?

"…Tanabata…it's a festival that celebrates the union…yearly union of…two stars in the sky. It is said that they were lovers…separated…they reunite in the sky for one night every summer."

"That's very romantic," Hinata smiled. "It doesn't sound like you care for it much …"

Gaara shook his head. "No…It's expected that you have a…companion for the evening. There's a banquet…"

"I can't imagine you would enjoy it much…if you don't have…um…" Hinata was about to say "_If you don't have anyone…"_ But she stopped when she felt that it might be rude to insinuate that somehow Gaara was lonely or unlikable. Not that he was vivacious by any means…but, hadn't Naruto always said that Gaara was a "chick magnet?"

Glancing at his pale, perfect face and broad shoulders, it was hard to imagine that the Kazekage had difficulty finding a date…perhaps there was some other reason? His reputation perhaps? The fear of his title and his history still held much clout.

"When I was a little girl…" Hinata said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had clouded the air between them. "I was expected to go to many stuffy functions…both village and clan—full of old men with long beards and dull voices. I hated it. Do you know what I used to do?"

Gaara's green blue eyes rolled back to her, giving her a side long glance. Hinata smiled at him, again and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

"…I used to hide behind the water wheel in the garden."

"For me," Gaara commented dryly. "Hiding is not an option…"

"Nor was it one for me, really," Hinata admitted. "You try finding a decent hiding spot in a house of byakuugan users. Still, I hated it so much it never stopped me from trying…"

But Gaara was no longer listening; he was watching Kankuro as he returned from the bar with three more glasses of beer filled dangerously to the top. He continued to watch as Kankuro made his way towards the table with exaggerated care and Hinata, oblivious, set her attention on finishing the remnants of her glass.

It was like watching a disaster in slow motion, as Kankuro approached the table, he seemed to slip on the hard tile floor and trip forward. The contents of his glasses, obeying the laws of physics, continued forward, even after the glasses stopped, making an arch through the air and landing squarely on Hinata's chest.

Hinata gasped as the cold liquid made contact with her skin, and Kankuro, apologetic and very eager to help grabbed a napkin and made to assist Hinata in sopping up the brew. His hand, however, was intercepted by Gaara's, which shot forward like a snake and clutched it before Kankuro's hand could reach Hinata's body.

The two brother's locked eyes, Gaara's communicating hot, gritty death to his older brother, and inexplicably Kankuro's face broke out into an infuriating grin. It was then that Gaara noticed where his other hand was, wrapped around Hinata's waist, hauling her closer into the shielding reach of his arms.

"Ah," Gaara said.

"I think m…may be…I think m…I should get c…cleaned up, um...again," Hinata said, her skin felt like it was on fire as she felt Gaara's release her and watched as Kankuro backed off so that she could escape to the bathroom for the second time that evening.

When she had gone, Kankuro turned back to Gaara and was greeted by his brother's hand clutching his shirt and pulling him towards him. Despite his better judgment, Kankuro refused to be intimidated.

"You like her," Kankuro whispered before Gaara could open his mouth.

"You did that on purpose," Gaara snarled.

Kankuro raised his eyebrows in an expression of mock innocence and began to pry his fingers off his collar, it was getting hard to breathe. Gaara held on and shook Kankuro roughly.

"What are you playing at?" Gaara demanded.

"A..air…" Kankuro wheezed.

Gaara let Kankuro fall with an expression of disgust. Kankuro would have laughed at his brother's face if he could have, but he was too busy massaging his throat.

"Gaara…" Kankuro said, all laughter in his strained voice had drained away. "Gaara…if you don't ask that girl out, I will… and I will make it a point to fuck her. Then I will tell you every detail, what she feels like, what she smells like, what she tastes like…"

Kankuro winced as he heard the all too familiar pop and hiss as Gaara's gourd opened and began to disgorge; Kankuro's last remark had hit home. Gaara was furious, and trying hard to control himself. He was on thin ice here, but Kankuro had a point to make, and he knew that although his red-headed brother was busy glaring at his own white knuckled grip on the table, Kankuro had Gaara's full attention.

"I'll do it Gaara, not because I like her, although she's cute and she has a stellar rack," Kankuro continued. "But to teach you a lesson…" and with this Kankuro leaned in closer to his brother and lowered his voice, for already Hinata was making her way back to the table from the bathroom. "If you want something…take it. Or someone else will."

Hinata had slowed perceptively on her way to the table. The atmosphere between the two men who were her companions was palpable. In the air there was a slight bitter smell like decay. Hinata realized that Gaara's gourd was open and it was exhaling its coppery breath like a crypt.

She stopped a few feet away in front of the table and realized that the aura of the Kazekage's anger was so heavy that the entire room had gone still. Gaara looked up at her and his face seemed transfixed with fury. Hinata felt her knees loosen with fright, and all warmth drained from her face.

"Tanabata," Gaara growled, his deep voice filling the room. "You will go with me!"

Hinata, too stunned to react, could only stare for a moment before her mind processed what he had said.

"Um, y…yes?" she said, realizing that her affirmation had come out like a question.

To her relief Gaara's gaze fell from her face and swept over the silent faces peering from bar stools and booths. He had meant to keep his preference for the Hyuuga a secret. Kankuro's gambit had caused him to confess his interest to an entire room full of Sunagakure's elite shinobi.

Gaara was seeing red; Kankuro would soon be, too, in a special way that he would introduce him to. But not here, not now. Gaara stood abruptly and slung his gourd over his back. Of its own volition a stream of sand followed Gaara towards the door with the cork in tow. The cork retreated back into its encasement, sealing itself with a _shunk_. The door slammed shut behind the Kazekage and slowly noise returned to the room.

Hinata turned her surprised gaze back to Kankuro, who was currently picking his teeth with the pointy end of a cocktail umbrella that he must have had stowed in his pocket.

"What…happened?" Hinata asked, bewildered. Could it possibly be that Gaara was that upset about Kankuro's clumsiness? Had Gaara just...asked her out? It didn't _seem_ like he had.

"Oh, that?" Kankuro asked nonchalantly. "My little brother's pretty moody, Hinata-san. Don't take it personally. Just between you and me…" he said as he stood and put money down on the table to cover their tab. "I think he holds a grudge because I'm the cute one." Kankuro gave Hinata a huge wink.

"But…Tanabata?" Hinata asked, still dazed by the situation.

"Consider it…a special assignment," Kankuro said, gently grabbing the elbow of the stunned girl and steering her toward the door. As they walked he could almost hear the wheels of Suna's gossip mill grinding to life. "I'll brief you on it as I escort you back to the embassy."

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A/N:

I love Kankuro as Gaara's foil. It's so much fun to write him that way. My Kankuro isn't really this over the top all the time, but he plays it up to egg his brother on in an attempt to jar him from his monk-like ways. Little teachable moments through benign perversion and mischief. Ah, if we all had such a mentor!

Thanks to jbramx2 (you get special browny points for reviewing all chaps), , Tw33ty JR., and Sepsis (aw!!). Y'all rock.

If you like it and you know it please review!!! I enjoy your feedback lots.


	5. Chapter 5

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~ Chapter 5 ~

Fall

"Gaara…Gaara-sama?" a gentle feminine voice niggled at the fringes of his consciousness. Gaara was in his office, cat napping at his desk as he did on occasions when resting there made more sense than going upstairs to his room.

He emitted a soft rumble of displeasure at being disturbed. A a soft touch ghosted the hairs on his cheek and Gaara awoke from his nap abruptly. Alarmed, he bolted from his chair, knocking it back as he felt his sand well up and ensnare his attacker.

His pulse hammered in his head and he felt the room tilt as he recognized the figure that lay limply on the ground—Hinata.

"Temari!" his voice boomed through his darkened office.

"What were you thinking?" Gaara demanded, his arms crossed tightly against his chest.

Hinata was lying on the low couch in his study, her pulse was steady, but her fall to the ground, or perhaps merely the shock of Gaara's sudden reaction had caused her to pass out.

"I didn't _know_ you were asleep, Gaara. It's not like you put one of those cute little "gone fishing" signs up every time you doze off!" Temari was worried. True to her nature she expressed it by being furious. She was well aware of Gaara's infatuation with the Hyuuga girl. Thanks to Kankuro, it was the talk of the town.

Hinata, unfortunately, seemed completely clueless to the fact, and now _this_ had happened. What did Hinata think she was doing, sneaking up on Gaara like that? Truthfully, she was probably didn't know the long history of assassination attempts that Gaara had dealt with from childhood.

As a result of those attempts, Gaara had the instincts of a cat. His reactions were swift and their results frequently terminal. Hinata was fortunate that Gaara had better control over these instinctual reactions than he used to. After all, it had taken a few years for Gaara to learn the utility of keeping his attackers alive…until he had extracted everything from them that was useful, anyway.

They both turned as Matsuri entered the office, quickly running over with a small paper tube that contained ammonium nitrate—smelling salts.

Temari thanked her and carefully broke open the tube and wafted it under Hinata's nose. It didn't take long for the chemical to take affect, Hinata breathed in deeply and sat upward, clutching her head with a hand as a sense of vertigo distorted her throbbing senses from the rush of oxygen.

Her head pounded, but that was not what she was concerned about at the moment. Hinata looked around to Temari's anxious face and Matsuri standing beside her and remembered what happened.

"Gaara…" Hinata saw Gaara's still form across the room.

Temari had noted his retreat to the window after Matsuri arrived. It was as if he wished to avoid Hinata when she awoke. Although whether it was because he was angry at Hinata's presumption or ashamed of his own reaction, she couldn't tell.

Her gaze trained unwavering at his back, Hinata attempted to stand, but Temari pushed her back down with an insistent hand. Hinata looked up at her and Temari was surprised to see a desperate look of concern in Hinata's eyes, concern for her brother. After facing one of Gaara's sand attacks, generally most people did not rush to be by his side again.

"I'm so sorry…I should have p…practiced better judgment," was all Hinata said before setting her eyes on her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"We will speak another time," Gaara uttered tersley.

Hinata nodded dejectedly, sadness a stone in her stomach. How could she be so stupid? It was a mistake to approach him while he was sleeping at his desk. It was just so novel, to see him at rest. He had attracted her, and she had childishly wished to touch him. If only she had realized how on edge he was, always.

She shuddered to think about what would have happened if he had killed or maimed her accidentally. He would have been justified, but what of the relations between Konoha and Suna? It would have been a political nightmare. Anger at herself flared in her belly, making her feel nauseous. She bowed to Gaara and then to Matsuri and Temari and left, too upset to say anything else.

"Thank you, Matsuri. You're excused," Temari said.

The younger girl looked up at her, a look of barely concealed annoyance on her face for being excluded from the conversation that was about to take place, but to her credit, she left without comment.

"Are you interested in her, Gaara?" Temari asked once the girl had left.

Instead of responding he glared at her crossly.

"It's just that Kankuro…" Temari began.

"Yes, _Kankuro._ I would have preferred it if Suna's shinobi population had remained ignorant to my intentions," Gaara responded, his irritation making a vein in his neck pulse. He rubbed coarsely at it with his palm.

"Ignorant, Gaara? _Ignorant?_ You want to know the person who is still ignorant about all this?" Temari asked, her volume growing as her anger swelled.

"Yes, Temari," Gaara growled sarcastically, raising his voice in an uncharacteristic burst of volume. "Tell me who he is. We'll throw a parade!"

"Hinata," Temari said.

Gaara was brought short by this. He looked away, out into the glowing, sand swept night beyond his window.

"I asked her to Tanabata," Gaara said, as if in defense of his cold demeanor towards this girl that he was attracted to.

"Yes, I know," Temari responded more calmly. His body language told her that Gaara had conceded defeat. "You know what else I know? Hinata is walking back to the consulate wondering if _you _still want her to come. She may be wondering if she even wants to go with you."

Gaara stood silently and continued to stare at the street, but Temari knew that he was listening.

"You're not…good at this," Temari said. "In fact, you're damn awful. It's okay. I'm going to help you. Here's what you're going to do…"

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A/N:

Oh no!

I was once like you--young, enjoying a story online, not reviewing. If not for me, review for the people who haven't read this story who won't unless it does have reviews.

There are those who cherry pick like that (God knows I do!) Don't they deserve the mental image of the noodle-tusk-walrus as well? Think of the walrus, folks. That's all I ask.

Also, if anyone finds these author notes annoying, let me know and I can move them further down the page. I try to provide a buffer with those funky line breaks but I can do more. A/N's can be disruptive when you're in the mental groove of reading.

HEART to Winter Ink, mimichan88 (forgive me for the sartorial cultural expropriation in the next chapter), Sepsis, Gracemis (especially Gracemis!) and xcarpediem.


	6. Chapter 6

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~ Chapter 6 ~

Righting

"It's beautiful…" Hinata gasped as Temari opened the long brown box. "Are you sure this is for me? It's…It must have cost…"

Temari just smiled and shook her head at the girl sitting and starring incredulously at Gaara's gift. Temari took the fabric out of the box and shook it, letting the silk breath out its wrinkles. Fortunately the garment hadn't been in the box long enough to form any creases. Temari approached Hinata and held the fabric of the sari up to her shoulder.

_Yes,_ she nodded, satisfied, the lusterous burgundy of the fabric with the gold embroidery on the hem complimented Hinata's dark hair and pale eyes, making her ivory skin take on a rosy glow from the richness of the fabric's color. It would look beautiful on her. It was also Gaara's favorite color. Temari smirked. _I am the best sister who's ever lived, _she thought.

Hinata watched transfixed as Temari revealed the long yards of fabric.

"What is it?" she asked, beguiled with the mystery of how this fabric was supposed to fit on her body.

"It's called a sari and it's the traditional dress of the Buras that live in the south western province of Suna. I thought it might compliment your hair."

"It does," Hinata commented looking in the mirror. "I'm surprised. I never would have picked these colors out for myself…that is…I mean…I'm glad you did!"

Hinata glanced again at her reflection in the large mirror to her right. They were in Temari's suite preparing for the Tanabata festivities. After her last "meeting" with Gaara Hinata had not heard from, nor had she the guts to seek him out and apologize properly for her behavior.

In misery she waited for some signal from him that they could resume a normal working relationship. Hence her surprise when Gaara had sent her a special messenger three days before with a note instructing her to be here at this date and time to prepare for the festival. She had not even entertained the thought that he would still want her to attend it with him. In the note he had written that he had a gift for her. Hinata realized that this must be it. It certainly put the off the rack dress that she had bought that morning to shame.

Temari handed Hinata the blouse that went with the dress and watched her stand and pull it over her head. Once she was done, Temari began to wrap the fabric around her hips. They both stood in silence as Temari folded the fabric into pleats.

"Ano…Temari-san?" Hinata broke the stillness with her hesitant question. Temari looked up at her.

"Thank you," Hinata said, smiling shyly. Temari smiled as she completed securing the skirt. Hinata watched in the reflection as the tall blond girl grabbed the loose end of cloth that was apparently supposed to wrap up and over her torso. Hinata was glad about this addition, for the blouse that she had on did nothing to cover her midriff. Firm as her muscles were from long years of hard training, Hinata was used to much more conservative dress. She found it hard to believe that this was polite fashion, but she trusted Temari's judgement. Besides, there were other more pressing questions weighing on Hinata's mind.

"Temari-san…" Temari looked over her shoulder in the mirror and Hinata blushed when she met her eyes and averted her gaze. There was something that Hinata needed to ask the older girl.

"You can drape the end that goes over your arm," Temari instructed her. "When eating I recommend you do this so it doesn't get in your way."

"Thank you," Hinata mumbled again, and then swallowed. If she wanted an answer to her question, Hinata figured that she better ask it now.

Otherwise she would have to ask Gaara, and somehow the idea of asking the Kazekage _anything_ seemed far more intimidating, especially considering the subject of her current inquiry.

"Um…Sorry," Hinata said as Temari looked at her again, her expression blank. _She must be getting annoyed with me, I better just say it,_ Hinata resolved. "Is it…Does every…Ah…I can't imagine that…Shikamaru-san got such treatment when he was liaison to Suna?"

_Ha, I only wish he would let me dress him. Slob,_ Temari thought. But instead of saying that she asked,

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I can't…I don't…" Hinata sighed and licked her lips, why was this so hard for her to say? "I was so rude to Kazekage-sama the other day, and I realize that this isn't his favorite holiday, but I'm just wondering…"

"…You're just wondering why he invited you?" Temari kindly finished Hinata's halting sentence.

"Yeah," Hinata said, her finger tips finding each other.

"Do you know much about how my brother grew up, Hinata-san?"

Hinata looked up at Temari.

"A little…" Hinata said. "I know that he was a jinchuriki, like Naruto. I know that…there were many attempts on his life." Hinata said, refraining from mentioning that it was the sand sibling's own father who had ordered those attempts. Temari needed no reminder of that fact.

"I can…well…" Hinata continued. "Perhaps I should put it this way, I used to watch Naruto when I was young. I was really shy. Too afraid to actually speak with nearly anyone, imagine that? But that didn't stop me from watching. I…it was horrible, how people treated Naruto-kun…I can only imagine that for Gaara it was much the same…probably worse," Hinata finished, softly.

Hinata glanced back at Temari's reflection in the mirror. Temari's jaw was set, her face immobile. Hinata looked away again, a little embarrassed that she had said so much, and in the dash of her gaze the wetness in the corners of her pale eyes was not lost on the Temari.

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Temari said finally, explaining this would be much easier than she thought it would be. "It's very hard for Gaara to communicate with people because of that, Hinata-san. He's okay with directives. You know, 'do this, do that,' which is why he can be a leader. But, anything more complex or…_emotional _and he just…it's like he doesn't have the vocabulary."

Hinata nodded. What Temari said made sense, but she still hadn't explained to her why Gaara had…

"Oh?" Hinata's jaw dropped, her eyebrows knitting in thought. An idea had just occurred to her. She looked back up at Temari who was watching the play of realization draw out through her expressions. _Could it be the Gaara…was interested in her?_

"No..."Hinata uttered, disbelieving.

"Oh, yes," Temari nodded and grabbed Hinata's shoulders and gently turned her around until they were standing face to face, the shorter girl blushing like a school girl.

"Hinata-chan," Temari said, boldly using the intimate suffix. "If you…don't like my brother, let him know. He won't be happy, but he's a big boy now. He'll deal with it. But, if there's some chance that you might be interested in him, please be patient. Remember where he's coming from."

"Thank you…I think I will," Hinata said softly.

Temari smiled, when she first met Hinata she thought that the pale eyed kunoichi was a little dense. But as she got know her she realized that her stuttering and hesitance concealed a keen mind guided by an exceedingly gentle and humble nature. Perceptive as Hinata was about other people, it was hard to believe that someone so kind could be a ninja. _Only in Konoha,_ Temari thought to herself.

"Thank you," Temari said. "Now let's talk about make-up."

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Gaara looked down at the assembled company on the plaza below him. It was traditional for those who attended Suna's annual Tanabata feast to first watch the acrobats out in the square. It was one of those rare moments when Suna's elite and the so-called "common" people mixed together freely, or at least so the more high minded democrats described it.

From where Gaara was perched however, he could see the mass of dignitaries and wealthy water and land owners forming a dense protective knot near the steps to Suna's civic hall, the main administrative and conference building where the feast was held, and where Gaara's offices and suite were located.

As he watched the well-dressed unpleasant people who he would soon by speaking with, he silently wished a hoard of pick pockets upon them. Knowing Suna's juvenile gypsy population, they were already hard at work. This thought made a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

But this consideration was not the only thing that occupied his interest. Gaara was scanning the crowd for someone else. Hinata's hair, dark as it was, was proving difficult to find in the crowd now that the sun had slipped behind the high walls of the city. Instead Gaara looked for his sister, whose bright blond hair made her an easy mark. He spotted her, standing near the front of the crowd watching a pair of fire jugglers. Hinata was nowhere in sight.

Gaara frowned. Had she decided not to come after all? He wasn't sure if he felt relieved by that prospect or disappointed. Gaara used busyness as an excuse for not seeking her out or requesting her presence after their last ill fated meeting.

Truthfully, he was…anxious, but he hated admitting vulnerability and so he occupied himself with other things. Now, as an unfamiliar sinking feeling clenched at his stomach, he wished he had not turned her away that night, or had at least made some time to meet with her since then.

It couldn't be helped. Gaara turned from the cooling air of the desert night and strolled back into his office. He must get dressed. He was probably going to be late as it was.

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Hinata shifted her weight again nervously. A combination of boredom, dread and anticipation rolled over her in alternating waves. Was Gaara really interested in her?

It seemed so unbelievable. Her mind kept on reviewing the handful of times that she had spent with him before coming to Suna. Mostly they involved hanging out with him and Naruto, with the exception of their private tea over a year ago. Their interactions had always been polite but taciturn. With most of the minimalist conversation performed by Hinata herself.

Perhaps this was all some weird joke that Temari was playing on her. She didn't seem the type, Hinata reasoned, but her mind was wound tight. It spun wildly between scenarios of how the night might unfold to paranoia that the whole thing was some sort of silly game that the Sand siblings were playing with her.

She thrust a finger through the velvet curtains and peered into the low-lit courtyard beyond. The courtyard had been set for the banquet, with round, low tables surrounded by plush cushions.

Women and men, some from the ninja class, many from the merchant class, and still other foreign dignataries sat in wait, sipping cool mint yogurt drinks and dark wine. No one had yet been served, it was traditional, Temari had explained to her, to wait until the Kage had arrived. He was late.

Gaara watched her from the shadowed rostrum on the floor above. The area where he was standing had once been used for speechs and sermons back in the old times, when the building had first been constructed.

Hinata stood in the room below, the burgundy of her sari gripping her hips, but not concealing the small of her back. He stared captivated by the sway of her movement as she shifted from foot to foot in her slippers.

Gaara could practically taste her impatience, and the annoyance of the people waiting in the hall beyond, but he found his feet immobile. It was a feeling foreign to him; he was a not a man known for hesitation. This was what he wanted, wasn't it?

Gaara thought back to all the fantasies he had of this woman, all seemed half-formed and ill conceived, more emotion and lust than substance. They were childish he admitted to himself. This was now. She was real. Not only did the night's proceeding have personal ramifications for him and her, they also had political ones. They both represented in their own way powerful groups of people.

He wondered, not for the first time, if it had been a mistake to go this far with what was very much a dressed up whim of his own basist instincts. He watched as Hinata shifted on her feet again.

Taking a deep breath, he lept onto the floor below. Startled, Hinata turned and watched him as he stood slowly, unfolding like a dark, black flower. He wore a black suit with a high neck. A more formal version of his typical atire. A matching silk desert cloak wrapped around his torso. He looked...magnificent. It was funny, she thought, how your perspective of a person can change. Gaara had never been hard to look at, but it hadn't been until that morning in his office, after she received her appointment that she had first become aware of her attraction to him.

Her lips parted, but she found that there were no words brave enough to venture forward as he walked silently towards her.

Gaara approached her, what had Temari said? _'Tell her how great she looks,'_or something... It seemed so pointless, how could she not know?

"Hyuuga-san," he said inclining his head slightly in greeting.

"Sabaku-sama," she said in turn, bowing to him.

Gaara forced himself to look away as Hinata's bow revealed to him the the beguiling cleft between her breasts. She was beautiful, keeping those base instincts in check was not, he realized, going to be easy, titles and boundaries be damned. Hinata stood and noted that he had looked away from her with a frown. It suddently dawned on her how ill-suited her current outfit was to bowing and a mottled blush spread over her face and neck.

To break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen, she asked, "My assignment, Sabaku-sama?"

"Assignment?" Gaara asked disappointed, his eyes returning to hers, surely she did not this think this was some sort of mission, did she?

"Yes," she smiled shyly. "You see, this is, for me a very new situation...I was hoping you could help," she shrugged bitting her lip in an unconscious gesture that didn't fail to arrest his attention.

"Yes," Gaara said, relieved she was just joking. He had not forgotten their conversation at the bar two weeks ago when she had told him about the difficulty she had in operating without a "directive."

So he was the one who got to decide what that directive should be? Remembering his sister's advice, he began to instruct her in his usual dead monotone.

"First, be more beautiful than any other woman here. This shouldn't be hard given the...equipment you've been given," Gaara said, his eyes rolling over her body with an air of seemingly detached analysis which made Hinata's skin flush an even deeper red.

"Second, pretend to be interested in whatever I am saying, no matter how uninteresting it may be. Finally, return with me to my study later, I want to show you something there."

Hinata nodded dumbly, her head swam. Where had Gaara learned to be _charming_? Sure he had delivered her "marching orders" in his typical emotionless manner, but he had just called her beautiful, in a strange backhanded sort of way.

Maybe Temari had done more than just pick out a dress. Regardless, Hinata decided that could get used to his brusque attention. Gaara stood in the door way and offered his arm to her in the commonly accepted Konoha gesture, she accepted, wrapping her arm gracefully around his.

"What color is that dress?" Gaara asked her as they paused at the archway, his expression impassive.

"Um...burgundy, I would call it..." she said, confused.

"Hm," he responded, without further explanation.

They entered the courtyard and Hinata was immediately aware of a hush that fell over the assembled company. Taking a deep breath, she called on all her training as heiress of the Hyuuga clan and schooled her features into what she hoped was a dignified mask.

She felt her spine lengthen as she set her shoulders back and her chin high. The faint jangle of the brass earings and braceletes that she wore was the only sound that could be heard in the room.

Gaara led her to a table slightly larger than the others at the far corner of the room. After sitting down she set to work arranging her sari in what she prayed was an appropriate fashion. Gaara sat down next to her, his back as before facing the wall, and nodded to a man dressed in a white uniform. A bell rang and a happy murmur arose from the crowd. The banquet had begun.

Immediately uniformed men and women appeared from the doorways, bringing in large trays with plates full of food. Unidentifiable dishes were set down in front of her and their other table mates, along with more familiar items like rice, olives, fruit and small roasted birds.

A flagon of wine was brought to Gaara and he inspected it before nodding to the steward who set it down on the table. Taking her empty glass Gaara poured Hinata a small amount and offered it to her to sample it.

"This is lovely. I've never had anything like this before," she said after letting its intense tones swirl over her tongue. She knew it to be grape wine. It seemed hopelessly exotic to her palatte, which was used to the rice wine of Konoha.

Gaara nodded and promptly filled her glass to the top. Hinata smirked, and wondered if he was trying to get her drunk, it wouldn't take that much. She noticed that there seemed to be mistake in the table settings as she glanced to look for her plate. Noting her gaze, Gaara stated,

"You will share my plate, and I will serve you. This is tradition."

Hinata felt her jaw drop. The idea of the Kazekage serving her seemed frankly scandelous. She wanted to refuse, but she knew how important the hospitality was to Suna and so, not wanting to insult him, she demured.

Gaara proceeded to pile their large plate with a sampling of different dishes, describing each to her in turn and watching as she tried each. Some were unexpectedly spicy, causing her twice to cough and take liberal gulps of her wine. Hinata was treated to the unexpected sound of Gaara's soft, low laughter as she struggled to maintain a modicum of dignity.

Secretly delighted by the unexpected sound, but still embarrassed that it was at her expense, Hinata consoled herself by sending angry looks at him over the rim of her glass. Undaunted, he simply smirked at her, his rapt, unflagging gaze envoking unanticipated reactions in her body.

This ritual continued in between light conversation with their tablemates until a dessert was served of chilled shaved ice flavored with lime and mint. The taste was soothing to her senses after the assault of flavors on her tongue.

Well-fed and drowsy with wine, Hinata was startled by the sound of a loud bell being rung yet again to mark the ending of dinner and the beginning of the reception.

Gaara stood and offered his hand to Hinata, who accepted gratefully. The long pleats of her skirt were beautiful but she was unused to them, and they made her maneuvers restricted and less than graceful.

He led her by the hand to a large room lit with huge bronze braziers and decorated with broad swathes of orange silk falling in cascades from the ceiling. As if on cue a stream of of people seemed to begin lining up to greet the Kazekage. Hinata shifted uncomfortably as people began to petition Gaara for this and that.

Wasn't this a holiday, she wondered? It seemed unfair to bother him on a night like this. She was annoyed, she found, that they had taken her his attention away from her. Furthermore, Hinata mused dejectedly, she didn't feel it was appropriate for her to hear what may be personal matters, or worse, political ones.

Her hand tingled as she felt Gaara's finger tips brush the back of her hand lightly. Turning, Hinata's gaze locked onto his eyes.

"The terrace," he instructed. "Go."

Relieved Hinata smiled and excused herself.

Hinata stood, slumping against a column. The cool air of the desert night did little to cool the fever of wine and excitement from her skin. The sensation of the stone column felt good against her arm though. It had been a few minutes since she had left the hall and Gaara had yet to join her. She was not bored, however.

From where she stood she could see the other revelers on the terrace, Kankuro among them, speaking to eachother, changing groups, shifting, like stars weaving new constellations before her eyes. The streets below were lit with lanterns. In the sky above the stars hung, the indigo pierced with the occasional flashes of fireworks set off from the rooftops of houses across the city.

Hinata wondered what it could be that Gaara had in store for her in his study. Some scroll that he wanted to show her? What else could it possibly be? The prospect would have seemed dull to her, but it did mean that they would likely be alone together.

She smelled him first before she felt him. Gaara had a scent like tea tree oil that night, he must have bathed with it. Sharp and bright, it mingled with his usual earthy frangrance and wafted towards her as the wind shifted behind them. About to turn to greet him, she felt the feather light touch of his silk cloak ghost againts her back and she froze in place

Gaara was standing just behind her now. She swore that she could feel the heat from his body. Or perhaps it was just her own reaction to the fact that he was so near? As Hinata silently pondered this, Gaara reached out towards the bare patch of skin at the small of her back that had hypnotized him earlier as he watched her from above.

His open hand ached to touch it. He longed to capture her bare waist and pull her towards him, to fold her into his body and bury his face in the crook of her neck. He wondered if, nestled there, he would be able to feel her pulse beneath his lips? But to do that would be...innapropriate, to say the least. Especially here, with the elite of Suna watching, milling around like hungry hounds.

He couldn't restrain himself from one small indulgence, though, he curled the index finger of his left hand and brushed his knuckle up the shallow, smooth depression of her spine. He smiled softly as Hinata jumped slightly in surprise, but didn't move to avoid him. His pulse quickened. Not mollified with just a single touch, his digit traced slow strokes over her backbone, up and down, up and down.

Hinata's breath stopped. In that anoxic moment, the world stopped with her, and her mind was left bereft of sensation except for the slow rise and dip of Gaara's smooth knuckle against her skin. A spray of gooseflesh rose from her nape to her navel, and she clutched dumbly at the railing in front of her as her eyes slid shut.

Somewhere in the haze of that moment a part of her logical mind still chattered away wondering, how, _how_ was it that small gesture should have such an effect on her? Nothing, that part of her wondered, no small thing that Naruto had ever done had given her a feeling quite like this one.

Gaara watched, pleased, as Hinata did not move to avoid his touch but seemed to relax into it, as she braced her hand against the railing in front of her. He stepped forward into her back and breathed one soft word into the shell of her ear, "Come."

"Yes," Hinata answered, her voice barely audible.

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A/N - Woo! Already there...is what I would have said. To him. But I'm not a very classy lady! Sorry to end it on another cliff hanger. But there will be more soon. Thanks go to all fabulous reviewers.

jbramx2 has made FREAKIN' amazing fan art for the story, in which she depicts the hilarious bar scene between Kankuro and Gaara. (Hilarious). Everyone check out the picture on her deviant account (you can find it through her profile), and then worship her for her greatness because she is an amazing illustrator.

Speaking of talented, bump to Gracemis (who needs no bump from little ol' me, really). If you are a Gaahina fan who as been living under a rock and haven't read her stuff, go do so now.

Finally, Bob-Geko. So insightful you are! Administer medicine at all times. This chapter is not long enough for you, I'm sure. But I like to give more frequent updates...

If you like this, try reading Monkey Shine, my other published Gaahina story. It's funnier than this one, and has a gorilla in it? Yeah. Just read it.


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